ASML—Violated U.S. export control agreement by overselling to China, allegedly offered to spy for U.S. in exchange
In 2023, ASML violated a 'gentlemen's agreement' with the United States by selling far more chip-making machines to China than agreed during September 2023-January 2024. According to a book by former Bloomberg journalists, then-CEO Peter Wennink suggested ASML could provide the U.S. with insight into Chinese chip factories in exchange for allowing ASML engineers to continue serving Chinese customers, with a senior American official stating 'ASML could be Washington's eyes and ears in China.' ASML denied the claim, calling it 'factually incorrect and significantly misleading.'
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Governance | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Government Ethics & Anti-Corruption | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.563 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.50)